There are many reviews out there praising or bashing the Avengers: Age of Ultron movie. From my point of view, as a Marvel Comics geek, I plainly loved it. It was awesome to see Thor and Captain America assisting each other. There’s a scene everyone has seen where Captain America swings his shield, and Thor bats it with the Mjolnir hammer to destroy a bunch of Ultron robots.
Tony Stark cracks me up with his one liner sequences:
When Steve Rogers and Tony Stark are cutting wood: “Don’t take from my pile.”
Or when he fights the Hulk armored up with the Hulkbuster armor:
Iron Man: Listen to me, that little witch is messing with your mind. You’re stronger than her, you’re smarter than her. You’re Bruce Banner!
(Hulk throws a car at Iron Man)
Iron Man: Right, don’t mention puny Banner.”
Natasha (Black Widow) is truly in love with Bruce Banner, and we get to see more of her human side, beyond the ruthless cold war assassin she was trained to be since childhood.
Bruce is too worried about losing control, and harming people in general or his friends. We get to learn something about Clint Barton (Hawkeye) that not even the Avengers knew about.
There were a few strange things going on in the movie. For example, the Scarlet Witch doesn’t have chaos magic powers, but instead telepathic and telekinetic in nature. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what her power set is in the Marvel Cinematic universe. Her telepathic power also makes her target have precognitive visions about a possible future. For example, Tony Stark sees the defeat of the Avengers, and it was his fault — as a dying Captain America tells him with his last breath. Most likely a vision of the aftermath of Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (2018). Thor on the other hand sees visions of what’s to come in the upcoming movie Thor: Ragnarok (2017).
Does Wanda know her powers have that sort of side effect? She doesn’t seem to acknowledge it or be aware of it. She does seem to have precog abilities herself as she unfolds Ultron’s true motives and witness herself a glimpse of a possible future where Ultron wins.
Might be an useful mechanic for Marvel Studios to give fans a glimpse into future plans.
The special effects and the constant action thrilled the audience in the theater, and I enjoyed the movie overall. I laughed, and smirked geekily from start to finish.
Before going into spoilers, and analysis — check out a recent interview with the entire Age of Ultron cast by FOX network.
Analysis, Spoilers and #WhedonTroll
It is crystal clear that the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) doesn’t follow the comics canon. In the comics, Henry Pym (aka Ant-Man) created Ultron. In the movie, it was an effort between Tony Stark and Bruce Banner using Loki’s scepter which contains the Mind Gem (One of the Infinity Stones).
In the comics, later it is revealed that Ultron’s personality was programmed by Hank Pym using his own brainwaves. Henry feels guilty because Ultron is what Henry would be if he lost self-control. In the Movie, Ultron gained self-sentience through the programming and the Mind gem itself. However, it is never explained in the movie or even questioned by Tony, Bruce or Steve Rogers how the heck he gained sentience. What we do know is that his programming was not completed, and after watching all of Tony and S.H.I.E.L.D.’s data and videos in the internet he couldn’t process it and went bananas, ultimately deciding that for Earth to be in peace he had to exterminate all humans.
I am bothered there was not a single nod to Henry Pym in the Avengers: Age of Ultron Movie (that I can remember), considering Ant-Man the movie is coming out in July 17, 2015. It would have been nice if Henry would have been indirectly part of Ultron’s creation through some of his work.
There were two deaths in Age of Ultron that stroke me as odd. Baron Strucker and Quicksilver. By killing off Strucker in the cinematics universe, Marvel closes that door for future Captain America movies. Of course, as the Hydra organization motto goes: “”if a head is cut off, two more will take its place.” The question is … who from known canon will replace Strucker?
Quicksilver went out a hero saving the life of Hawkeye and that of a child; but it felt very unnecessary. He is able to outrun bullets, or get people out of the way, and most anything; but he just stood in front of the fire to save two. Made absolutely no sense.
We do know that in the cinematic universe, Wanda and Pietro were experimented on by Hydra with Loki’s scepter (which holds the Mind gem); but we also know there is some connection with the inhumans. One thing is for sure, Pietro’s body was not left behind. Could his body be put in stasis by S.H.I.E.L.D. and revived at a later point? We know from the S.H.I.E.L.D. TV series that Coulson was revived with Kree technology. We also know that Nick Fury needs these extraordinary and skilled men to protect Earth. We’ll just have to wait and see.
In the Marvel Comics, death is just a setback. Colossus, Nightcrawler, Jean Grey, Sabretooth, Mystique, Guido, M, Captain America, Wolverine, Northstar, and many others have died and returned to life one way or another. Oh, and how about Wanda killing the Vision, Ant-Man (Scott Lang), Jack of Hearts and Hawkeye in Avengers: Disassembled? Months later, during House of M, Wanda brought Hawkeye back to life. He was killed again, and after House of M he was brought back somehow. I don’t think it’s been ever explained.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Pietro) and Elizabeth Olsen (Wanda) even tease that scene as a possibility of Wanda resurrecting her brother in the MCU … Olsen: “In the comics books series like Hawkeye dies and I bring him back. So it’s cool.”
Finally, like in the comics, the Avengers see members come and go. It is a tradition for new heroes to replace others. The Hulk only lasted about two issues in The Avengers comics (1963). We have also seen spin-offs: West Coast Avengers (led by Hawkeye), New Avengers, The Mighty Avengers and Avengers: Initiative to name a few.
In the Avengers: Age of Ultron we have seen the birth of a new Avengers team line-up. Hawkeye, Iron Man, Thor and Hulk departed the team. How long that will be is unknown, but it would be nice to see them back around Infinity War Part 2 against Thanos and his forces.
Thor departed back to Asgard, troubled by the precog vision that foretold him about the events to be unfolded in Thor: Ragnarok. Hulk just wants to be alone far from harming civilization. Iron Man has a lot on his plate — mind you, he created Ultron and all those deaths are on him; plus the precog vision of all the Avengers members dead surely spook him. However, he’s likely going to act. He knows what’s out there in space, and he knows the clock is ticking. They need to be prepared for whatever is coming. Thor told the team the fact four of the gems have been in play in the last few months is no coincidence.
On the other hand, there were no charges or even a slap on the hand for using Loki’s scepter to create Ultron. I don’t see grounds for Tony to want to initiate Civil War. I wonder if Marvel Studios is planning to put a spin to the original comics’ Civil War — and make Captain America be the one to start the legislation based on Tony’s reckless act behind everyone’s back. Now that would be a twist.
I am a bit worried about Marvel Studios’ choice for the new team line-up, though. Captain America, Black Widow, Vision, Black Panther, Falcon and War Machine do not strike me as a solid team able to handle the initial wave of Thanos’ invasion on Earth. Like … for real? Falcon, and the Black Panther don’t have special powers. One flies, and the other one uses his own physical and martial strength. Probably some vibranium weapons, but I don’t know.
War Machine is a more aggressive version of Iron Man with missile launchers and lasers(?). Probably able to handle a few alien warships. The Vision shoots lasers from his eyes, and can manipulate his or someone else’s density. He could phase through a warship and destroy it. However, we have seen Vision be destroyed multiple times in the comics (Avengers: Disassemble). So it’s just a matter of time before he gets replaced by a new Avenger member.
I would have liked to see Ant-Man, Wasp, Ms. Marvel and maybe Wonderman in the new Avengers line-up. The last three can go airborne. Carol Danvers (Ms. Marvel) gained her powers during an accident involving kree warrior Captain Marvel and a kree device. She has super strength and resilience. Wonderman is more of a mystery with superstrength and ionic powers; and a love interest of Wanda (Scarlet Witch) in the comics.
Did we see a nod, or the birth of Klaw? That guy Ultron buys Vibranium from … that is Ulysses Klaue. Ultron cuts his hand off … and we know that in the comics Ulysses Klaue uses a prosthetic device on his right hand to blast sonicwaves. He’s better known as a villain who has often fought the Fantastic Four and the Black Panther. It is likely possible we see Klaw show up in the upcoming Black Panther (2018) movie — which happens to be the same year as Avengers: Infinity War, Part 1 (2018).
According to the description in IMDB, the Black Panther’s plot revolves around the death of T’Challa’s father (T’Chaka). In the comics, Ulysses Klaue is who killed his father, and thus T’Challa takes the mantle of Black Panther. Ulysses is also son of Colonel Firtz Klaue (nazi war criminal who worked for Baron von Strucker during World War II). Sounds like there are a few plots there that link together with Avengers: Age of Ultron and Black Panther (2018).
Originally, in the comics, Ultron created the Vision — supposedly– using Wonderman’s brainwaves. In the cinematics, it was a mix of Tony Stark’s J.A.R.V.I.S. program, the asian scientist coerced by Ultron to use her skills to build an Android body for himself in an effort to evolve, and Thor jumpstarting the Mind gem on the android’s forehead with lightning to awaken the Vision. The heck was all that? Way too much and complicated.
Overall a great action movie with humor elements, awesome special effects, great acting, and a geek-gasm. Hopefully, that’s enough to counter some of the flaws in the story and the convoluted Marvel Cinematic Universe canon.
